brownsfan019

Here's where it can get sticky in futures - what is the .25% going to be based on? Broker margins, exchange margins or what the underlying is actually worth.... Imagine a .25% tax in futures that is based on the underlying's actual value, not the margin bond requirements... If this passes, how it is structured could have a killing effect in the futures world. It potentially could equate to (ES for example): $50 x 782.00 = $39,100 x .25% = $97.75 And that could be $97.75/side = $195.50/round trip per contract Which means you'd need 4 ES pts just to cover these fees! I guess we can hope that if this does pass, some sort of limit or something is placed on the futures b/c there's no way anyone can trade profitably being down 4 pts before a trade has even moved. So, anyone got a good FX broker they can recommend? Seems FX was left off the list. :rofl: Good thing OEC is getting into it soon. Might need another option here.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.1068.IH: Let Wall Street Pay for Wall Street's Bailout Act of 2009 (Introduced in House) HR 1068 IH 111th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 1068 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to impose a tax on certain securities transactions to the extent required to recoup the net cost of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES February 13, 2009 Mr. DEFAZIO (for himself, Mr. WELCH, Ms. SUTTON, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. WU, Mr. STARK, Ms. DELAURO, and Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to impose a tax on certain securities transactions to the extent required to recoup the net cost of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the `Let Wall Street Pay for Wall Street's Bailout Act of 2009'. SEC. 2. FINDINGS. Congress finds the following: (1) The Bush Administration allocated the first $350 billion of TARP funds in a manner that has outraged the Nation by failing to provide the most basic oversight of the funds. (2) Congress has declined to block the remaining $350 billion of TARP funds despite the lack of oversight and the record fiscal year 2009 budget deficit estimated at $1.2 trillion. (3) The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System has committed more than a trillion dollars to stabilize the economy by bailing out various banks deemed `too big to fail'. (4) The $700 billion TARP fund and the new Federal Reserve lending facilities were created to protect Wall Street investors; therefore, the same Wall Street investors should pay for this infusion of taxpayer money. (5) The easiest method to raise the money from Wall Street is a securities transfer tax, a tax that has a negligible impact on the average investor. (6) This transfer tax would be on the sale and purchase of financial instruments such as stock, options, and futures. A quarter percent (0.25 percent) tax on financial transactions could raise approximately $150 billion a year. (7) The United States had a transfer tax from 1914 to 1966. The Revenue Act of 1914 (Act of Oct. 22, 1914 (ch. 331, 38 Stat. 745)) levied a 0.2 percent tax on all sales or transfers of stock. In 1932, Congress more than doubled the tax to help overcome the budgetary challenges during the Great Depression. (8) All revenue generated by this transfer tax should be deposited in the general fund of the Treasury of the United States, scaled to meet the net cost of these bailouts, and phase out when the cost of the bailouts are repaid. SEC. 3. RECOUPMENT OF DEFICIT ARISING FROM FEDERAL BAILOUT. (a) In General- Chapter 36 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting after subchapter B the following new subchapter: `Subchapter C--Tax on Securities Transactions `Sec. 4475. Tax on securities transactions. `SEC. 4475. TAX ON SECURITIES TRANSACTIONS. `(a) Imposition of Tax- There is hereby imposed a tax on each covered securities transaction an amount equal to the applicable percentage of the value of the security involved in such transaction. `(b) By Whom Paid- The tax imposed by this section shall be paid by the trading facility on which the transaction occurs. `© Applicable Percentage- For purposes of this section-- `(1) IN GENERAL- The term `applicable percentage' means the lesser of-- `(A) the specified percentage, or `(B) 0.25 percent. `(2) SPECIFIED PERCENTAGE- `(A) IN GENERAL- The term `specified percentage' means, with respect to any taxable year beginning in a calendar year, the percentage that the Secretary estimates would result in the aggregate revenue to the Treasury under this section for such taxable year and all prior taxable years to equal the Secretary's estimate of the net cost (if any) to the Federal Government of-- `(i) carrying out the Troubled Asset Relief Program established under title 1 of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, and `(ii) the exercise of authority by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System under the third undesignated paragraph of section 13 of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 343). `(B) DETERMINATION OF PERCENTAGE- Such percentage shall be determined by the Secretary not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this section, and redetermined for taxable years beginning in each calendar year thereafter. Such percentage shall take into account the Secretary's most recent estimation of such net cost. Any specified percentage determined under this paragraph which is not a multiple of 1/100th of a percentage point shall be rounded to the nearest 1/100th of a percentage point. `(d) Covered Securities Transaction- The term `covered securities transaction' means-- `(1) any transaction to which subsection (b), ©, or (d) of section 31 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 applies, and `(2) any transaction subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. `(e) Administration- The Secretary shall carry out this section in consultation with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.'. (b) Clerical Amendment- The table of subchapters for chapter 36 of such Code is amended by inserting after the item relating to subchapter B the following new item: `subchapter c. tax on securities transactions'. © Effective Date- The amendments made by this section shall apply to sales occurring more than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.

No idea - ask Amp.

John - I receive an email from OEC when new upgrades are coming and then look for them. That's how I knew about it. I'm sure someone at Amp is getting them, but maybe not relaying that to sales force.

You say tomato, I say tomatoe... Point is that candlestick patterns are incredibly useful tools for the visual learner, like myself, when used in a context that makes sense. Much of this has been explained throughout this entire area of the forum so I won't regurgitate.

As I've stated previously, using a 'candle finder' software ESPECIALLY in intra-day trading is not only lazy but cannot possibly find the appropriate patterns. In intra-day trading there is not room for rigid, computer defined 'find-a-shape' programs. You must remain flexible in your definition of patterns if using candles in your trading. And before any of our new friends chastise me for saying 'my backtesting shows these do not work' 1) candles are not the be all end all - must be used in conjuction w/ some other analysis 2) if you use rigid, computer defined find-a-shape program, it cannot possibly do the intra-market analysis that a brain can. Simply put - computer find-a-shape programs are for those that want a quick and easy way to trade via candlestick patterns. Inevitably, these WILL fail.

Bill - good question. Who knows exactly what might cause your return to get flagged. My best guess based on experience is that if it's close enough, you'll probably get through fine. If there are huge discrepancies, expect a friendly letter in the mail. That happened to me last year actually - the state of OH sends me this big letter in the mail saying I owe a bunch of money. When I looked at their findings, THEY had transposed a number incorrectly that turned my return into a big problem from their point of view. Anyways, point is that you can do the return perfectly and still get flagged. Just do your best, save all documents and then cross your fingers. Or find a qualified CPA and let them take care of it.

John - the software gets better each release. And the fact that it's free (incl data) is rather nice when many other packages will charge for the platform and/or data.

Here's the official release: So I totally skipped over that OEC will be entering the Forex business now too. Quite a few have asked me about this previously and now it's here. I was told it was coming, and looks like it's here for those interested. I've emailed asking for more details on the forex thing so we'll see what I can find out.

I'll 2nd that, Suri's book is amazing. I didn't think I'd be purchasing too many more trading books in my time as a trader, but glad that I purchased his! Highly recommended!

The most recent upgrade was applied to simulation over the weekend and I've been playing around w/ it a bit today. So far I see the following upgrades/changes: 1) Market replay (need plugin from OEC's site) 2) Global cursor 3) Square and elipse shapes 4) Shapes can be transparent 5) Risk monitor (set your own 'shut off' point) 6) Can reorganize look of quote window 7) Roll forward and backward on charts 8) Copy and paste on charts 9) OSM order entry 10) New indicators (in samples menu) Auto Regression Fib Bollinger Bands Ichimoku Kinko Hyo 11) Line number given when using custom coding (bottom right) These are things I found today clicking around. A few of them were suggestions I had sent in, so it's good to know they listen to their customers. If you have a suggestion, fill out a support ticket (via the My Account section on their website) and send it in! It may not get filled immediately, but it could work it's way into the program at some point.

In this thread we can discuss the new features when there is an upgrade to OEC Trader. The official list can be found here on the OEC site but sometimes I've found things that aren't always easily found on the site.

Chris - during 'normal' conditions there is no spread, meaning there is bids/asks on each side. You will however see a spread or gap on the DOM during the big econ announcements - non-farm payroll, etc. Other than that, the ZB usually has bids/asks 5 levels deep on the DOM. And if the ZB depth is not what you are looking for, the ZN has a ton of depth and volume, with the same $ movements per tick. I personally think the ZB moves more (could be a correlation of lesser volume) but the ZN is a great option as well. I like the ZF too, but less $ per tick so I usually place trades on the ZN or ZB. Best thing to do is open up a DOM on Tues and see for yourself. OEC customers have access to this data for free, some other data providers will charge extra for it.

Chris, I personally use TA in trading bonds and a fan of candlestick patterns. Not sure how long ago you traded with 'large spreads' but the ZF, ZN and ZB have your standard bid/ask during most trading hours (can get wide during big econ announcements), but the same as the ES in my eyes. As Ronin said - you'll find support/resistance can be tested numerous times before it finally busts through and as a reversal trader, that bodes well for me. First, my stops hold better vs. ES b/c those levels can hold a few times before breaking. Second, if you can anticipate levels holding, you can get aggressive on your entries. The key is screentime of course. What works for me or Ronin, may not work for you.

Unless Tams can discuss the settings of the indicators being used, there's not much good in looking at screenshots or txt files. You need the settings or it's useless.

And what do you mean by 'front running'? Having a buy or sell stop sitting there or what? Interesting comment but nothing of substance provided to James to help.

James - I see some possible short positions there based on your resistance level and a candle pattern confirming it. You also have a possible profit target laid out with your trendline. As for how to trade it, can't say as I have never studied the relationship of candle patterns w/in the context of triangles.

No prob. Had a little time last night to grab a few screenshots. You'll note they go from 8am-Noon EST as that's when the moves usually occur. You could trade them all day but the moves and volume die off around Noon EST.

There's some good ideas in the thread and it's up to the end user to implement them to work for their trading style. I have not taken the plunge into FX, so can't speak on behalf of long-term profitability of the ideas presented here.

Attached are some 1 minute charts of the ZB and ZN (note - you could also get a 2 week free trial to OEC's software if you want to pull up the charts w/o paying for the data fees initially)

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but for me deadalus, the reason I really like the bonds is that it's much smoother than the ES. By smoother I mean the moves are measured and where I place my stops can often hold; unlike some days on the ES. Point is that while I personally think it's worth a look, if you are looking for rapid movements like the ES can provide, you may be disappointed. If you are looking for quick moves, watch the bonds during big econ announcements and you'll see when they typically move.

Does anyone make any money using woodie's ideas? I see he's now in the business of selling DVDs.

This is too funny - who's the intelligent trader that rated this thread 1 star? What possibly is so horrible in this thread that you rated it 1 star? :rofl: This site cracks me up sometimes. Next time I'll keep my mouth shut.

Hey Ronin! How ya doin? I'm listening if you want to share.

Good comments but I have found that for me and my trading, stop placements are HIGHLY respected on the bonds - much more so than the ES. It obviously depends on your trading style, but for me, bonds are very,very technically sound and much easier to trade than the ES IMO (currently).